Harry Potter: The Year of Learning and Growing
by kswyn1
Summary: One morning, Harry Potter wakes up to find himself changed. From there, he goes on a quest to find out about his new powers and how he is a different man from the boy he was just last year. Sixth year. New powers for Harry. Manipulative Dumbledore. Much b


**Summary:** One morning, Harry Potter wakes up to find himself changed. From there, he goes on a quest to find out about his new powers and how he is a different man from the boy he was just last year. Sixth year. New powers for Harry. Manipulative Dumbledore. Much better than it sounds. R & R! H/G and R/Hr.

**Disclaimer:** I solemnly swear that I do not own Harry Potter.

Chapter 1- Letters and Surprises

"BLOODY HELL!" one Harry Potter exclaimed. A tingling sensation was flowing throughout his body. It was like nothing Harry had ever felt in his life.

It was July 31, the morning of Harry's 16th birthday. The feeling continues for about 20 seconds, when it stopped. Suddenly, Harry's Uncle Vernon slammed the door open. He took one look at Harry, prepared to holler with his mouth open and all, when his mouth curiously closed. He then slowly backed out of the room looking first shocked, then confused, and finally settled on terrified. Harry was too stunned to move for a moment. When had his uncle _ever _refrained from yelling at him?

He slowly got out of bed to see what had gotten to his uncle so bad. Harry was looking around his room, when, by chance, his eyes caught a glimpse of himself in his mirror. He nearly fainted from

the shock. Not five minutes ago, he had been 5'4", extremely scrawny, and wild haired. He had more or less looked like he had barely hit puberty. But now, quite suddenly, he had to be at least 6 feet tall, nicely muscled, and his hair was down to his shoulders and no longer sticking up! What the hell had happened. Not only did he look quite different, but he felt different, too. The power he felt inside himself was astounding.

Right then there was a loud crash on his window. Deciding to puzzle over his new looks and powers later, he went over to the window. Harry quickly opened it after seeing a bunch of owls. They flew in and deposited their loads on the bed. Just by looking, Harry could tell he had more mail than he usually did on his birthday. He separated the packages from the letters, and opened Ron's present first.

Harry read the letter before seeing what was inside the package. The letter was typical Ron: How are you, hope to see you soon, Cannons are having a horrible season . . . nothing out of the ordinary at all. In the package were replacements for his dwindling supplies of the broom repair kit Hermione sent him a few years ago. After looking through, he set the stuff aside and picked up the thing Hermione had sent. The letter was exactly what he expected from Hermione as well. It was considerably longer than Ron's short note. In it, she expressed her worries for him, talked about OWLs and school, complained about Ron, told him how much she missed him, and told him to be careful. Her present, no surprise, were books. However, these titles interested him greatly. The first was a replacement for his copy of _Quidditch Though the Ages_, as his was falling apart. The second and third ones were called _Advanced Charms, Spells, and Hexes Used in Dueling and to Defend Yourself_, and _Becoming an Animagus_. Harry paged through this briefly pretty interested. He set it aside to look at the last book, which made his mouth drop open. Hermione, the strict rule-abider he knew and loved, had sent him a manual on how to become an animagus! First Uncle Vernon backed off, then Hermione sent him this book? "Hell is freezing over," thought Harry. "Next, Snape will be professing his undying love to all muggleborns!" ... Oh well, at least the book would be useful!

Harry looked at the next package. It was from Remus. The letter stated how he hoped Harry was doing well, and briefly mentioned a reading of Sirius's will. By th time he got to the box, he was thoroughly curious. He opened the big box to find it filled with things that had belonged to his parents and Sirius. It took all his self-control to not tear the entire box apart. After a while, he put the box in the space under the loose floorboard.

He received the usual food package from Mrs. Weasley. The last package was wrapped in the gaudiest paper Harry had ever seen, and he lived with the Dursley's. He opened this letter carefully, as he had a hunch on who it was from. He was right, but he needn't have worried. The Weasley twins wrote to say that the joke shop was a tremendous success, that they had made Harry a silent partner, and to open the box with caution, because they had sent him a huge supply of WWW merchandise. After sorting through this carefully, Harry put it in his ever-growing pile of presents. He was finally done with the packages.

The first of the letters he picked up was one from the ministry. His O.W.L. results! CRAP! He opened it with a huge feeling of foreboding. "Well," he thought to himself as he closed his eyes and took a deep breath, "here goes nothing...or everything." he slipped the piece of parchment out of the envelope and took a look. His mouth promptly dropped open. The letter couldn't be right. But... it _was _addressed to him. It read:

_Dear Mr. Potter,_

_Please note that an O 3 OWLs, an E 2 OWLs, and an A 1 OWL. Anything below an A will not earn any OWLs. Your scores are the following:_

_Astronomy - A_

_Care of Magical Creatures - O_

_Charms - O_

_Defense Against the Dark Arts - O+_

_Divination - T_

_Herbology - E_

_History of Magic - D_

_Potions - O_

_Transfiguation - E_

_Congratulations! You received 18 OWLs You are eligible to take Astronomy, Care of Magical Creatures, Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Herbology, Potions, and Transfiguation. You received an extra OWL in Defense Against the Dark Arts for your marvelous Patronus Charm. Also, your lifetime ban of Quidditch was overruled as both unnecessary and illegal. You will receive your broom after it has been retrieved and checked for jinxes._

_Sincerely, _

_Madam Marchbanks_

_Board of Examiners_

Wow... Hermione must have drilled more stuff into him than he had realized. 18 OWLs! That was the same as Bill had gotten, and he had been Head Boy! After getting over that pleasant surprise, Harry then opened the next letter. It was the one from Hogwarts. It was the usual letter, congratulating him on his success on his OWLs, telling him to be on Platform 9 3/4 on September 1, etc. However, enclosed in the envelope was a parchment , telling him to send the classes he wished to take to his Head of House. He could take anywhere between 5 and 8 classes. Deciding he would worry about that later, he looked back at his pile of mail, and picked up the letter from Remus. It was a short yet sweet note. Harry and Remus had been writing all summer so far, so there was no need for any serious business. He then picking up a letter from the order. He opened it up, and looked at the letter. It read:

_Dear Harry,_

_Happy Birthday! We decided that your present should be awesome (but useful_, it read in Moody's writing)_. So, we all chipped in and got you something only available to aurors at this time. Tap this parchment with your wand and put a drop of blood on it. This is big, so we need to be sure you are the one getting it. We all hope to see you at HQ sometime this summer. Be safe!_

_-The Order_

_P.S.- We completely redid HQ. It looks fantastic._

_P.P.S.- We decided to screen through your mail this summer. Don't worry, the only things we take out are the pieces of fan mail, or anything jinxed. That's why you haven't gotten any. We probably should have told you, but it slipped everyone's mind. Sorry!_

Harry had a sad, small smile on his face after he read the first postscript. While he was accepting Sirius's death, he still missed him terribly. "Sirius would have liked the house redone," Harry thought to himself. After he read the second one, he was a little annoyed, but admitted to the logic of it. This way, he hadn't had to deal with all of that stuff. He looked back at the directions, not sure whether to follow them or not. It _could _be a trap, after all. All of a sudden, he felt warm, and heard the phoenix song. That convinced him. He took out his wand and tapped it against the parchment. The spot started shimmering slightly, and he took it to mean that was where the blood was supposed to go. Harry took out a pair of scissors, and made a cut in his finger, dropping the blood in the appropriate place. Quite out of nowhere, there was a pair of wand holsters in front of him. A note appeared just below them. It read, "Harry, we decided to get you these wand holsters, available only to aurors, because they are so much fun to use, and they're _'useful'_. What you do, is, you fasten them on you, and when you need them, flick your hands. They also have a minor shield spell on them, and prevent minor cuts and bruises." Harry held the things in his hands, and knew that this was one of the best presents he had ever gotten. He laid the things reverently down on his bed, and then turned to the two remaining letters.

One was from Dumbledore, the other was from Gringotts. Harry decided to open the one from Gringotts first, as his curiosity was peaked. He had never gotten a letter from Gringotts before. After reading it about ten times (not counting that one line he had read about fifty times), he put the parchment down. It said:

Dear Mr. Potter,

As you are no doubt aware, next year, you will come of age and to your full inheritance. As the executioner of your parents will and financial advisor, Albus Dumbledore should have informed you of this. On your 17th birthday, you will own and be able to access all of you vaults, and well as your estates and other assets. Distributed throughout your vaults from around the world, both Wizarding and Muggle, you have approximately 13 billion galleons. You own several mines which produce a variety of things. There is a list of your estates enclosed with this letter. Besides all of this, there are several miscellaneous items in your vaults. An accurate list of your total assets, down to the last gemstone, can be found in your main vault, the Potter Family Vault. If you like, the contents of your trust vault will be combined with this main vault. You are one of the richest people worldwide.

Ragnok

Director of Gringotts

P.S.- The reading of Mr. Sirius Black's last will and testament shall take place on August 14th. We at Gringotts thought you would like to know, as you are one of the main beneficiaries.

P.P.S.- If you would like to go over your assets, this letter will turn into a portkey and deliver you here at 3:00 on August 2. Just inform one of the tellers who you are and that you are to meet with me.

Harry stared blankly at the letter for a few minutes, not really seeing it. He just kept going through the letter in his mind, his head a jumbled mess. _'Full inheritance... 13 billion galleons... Dumbledore hadn't told him... 13 billion galleons... vaults, estates, and other assets... 13 billion galleons... mines... 13 billion galleons... Jesus, that list of my estates is long... 13 billion galleons... Potter Family Vault... 13 billion galleons... trust fund... 13 billion galleons... Sirius's will... My God, what's the current exchange rate between muggle money and galleons? Oh well, I am definitely going to Gringotts. And- hold the phone, Albus Dumbledore. Oh. My. God.'_ He sure as Hell had not informed Harry about all of this! He felt the rage build up in him. If Dumbledore hadn't told Harry all of this, what else did he lie about? Suddenly, he felt all his new power welling and storming within him. He fought for control after his lamp blew up. It would be very bad if he accidentally blew the house up. Hedwig hooted, helping him to calm down. After a few minutes of deep breathing, he reached for Dumbledore's letter angrily. What the Hell did the meddling old arse have to say for himself? By the time he was finished, it was all he could do to keep from exploding. He looked down at the parchment again and read:

Dear Harry

Happy Birthday! I assume you have noticed some changes in yourself. You see, when you were born, I could sense how much power you had. Therefore, I took it upon myself to see that you would not hurt yourself or anyone around you. If I had not. Your power levels would be extraordinarily high, like they are now. In fact, one of the instruments you broke in my office last year was the one controlling your magical energy. When it broke, it released your powers, which came back to you tonight (or rather, this morning!) It was for your safety.

Now, Sirius's will is going to take place on August 14th. As much as I am sure you would like to go, get some fresh air, etc. I am going to have to ask you to not attend. It would be too likely that there would be an attack, and we can't have you getting hurt now, could we? I also think it would be better for you to stay with your aunt and uncle for the entire summer. It is for your own good, after all, as we discussed in my office last June. I will have Molly Weasley get your things, and they will come pick you up on the first.

On to the last order of business, now that both your parents and your godfather are dead, you will need a guardian for the last year that you are underage. I understand that Sirius specified one in his will, but if you would prefer, I think it would be nice for you to have a guardian nearby you all year long. That is why I am proposing that I become your guardian. With the clout I have with the government, we could easily work it out. Also, you need someone who can defend you against Voldemort. Please think on this proposal, and owl me back.

Again, best birthday wishes!

Sincerely,

Albus Dumbledore

Headmaster of Hogwarts

Well this time, his mind didn't even know where to begin the ranting. He was absolutely furious. Dumbledore honestly had the audacity to tell Harry that he had put magical blocks on him, taking away power and stunting his growth, then in the next breath telling him that it would be a good idea to have him become Harry's guardian? Magical blocks? Even without Harry's parent's permission? Who the bloody hell did he think he was? And what happened to all that stuff in June about telling everything, hmmm? And forbidding him to go to the reading of Sirius's will? Well that definitely was not going to happen! No way was he going to be bossed around and led blindly by that bastard! He was going to Gringotts on the second, then again on the 14th. As for the Dursley's? Screw them! He would move into one of his new houses. And he would have to see about legal emancipation, if Sirius's suggestede one wouldn't work with him. He was going to run his own life from now on!

Harry took several calming breaths, then decided he was too tired for all of this right now. Moving everything on his bed to the desk, he stretched his now-too-long body out and fell asleep.

**A/N: **So, what do you think? Please review? With a cherry on top? My first Fan Fic, so be nice (though creative criticism is welcomed.)


End file.
